10 Cases of UN Abuse, Waste, and Subversion of U.S. Interests

The United Nations is hurtling toward insolvency, and it has itself to blame. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres needs to secure $8.68 billion to keep the lights on for regular operations and peacekeeping this year — and he doesn’t have it. Nearly 76 percent of total assessed contributions are unpaid, and the institution’s decades-long history of waste, fraud, and abuse isn’t helping Guterres come up with the cash as the world body faces “imminent financial collapse.”

The Trump administration has demonstrated little tolerance for mismanagement, having withdrawn from 66 international organizations that were “wasteful, ineffective, and harmful,” including 31 UN bodies, with more on the table. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz vowed to “continue sustained pressure on demanding efficiency” from the United Nations. 

Continued pressure by American policymakers for accountability, transparency, and reform is required to ensure U.S. taxpayer dollars are used effectively. Here are 10 examples of UN abuse, waste, or subversion of U.S. interests:

1. The UN appointed Iran vice chair of the UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference despite Tehran’s illicit nuclear program.

The United Nations in April 2026 elevated Iran to serve as one of 34 vice presidents of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, a body tasked with overseeing compliance with the global nonproliferation regime. The United States and its allies condemned the decision to appoint a serial NPT violator to the conference as an “affront” to the treaty’s credibility. While Iran serving as one of 34 vice presidents has little practical meaning, the farcical appointment demonstrates the United Nations’ failure to uphold its own standards and how the world body often runs counter to U.S. interests. 

2. The Human Rights Council has become a dictators’ club.

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has effectively been captured by a voting bloc of authoritarian regimes that use the council’s “non-interference” and “sovereign equality” principles to shield themselves from accountability. By securing seats on the council, authoritarian regimes have successfully blocked formal debates on documented atrocities in the Chinese province of Xinjiang while ensuring that Item 7 of the permanent UNHRC agenda — a mandate to scrutinize Israel — remains an immutable feature of every session. Though the United States has withdrawn from the UNHRC, its UN contributions still fund the council.

3. The UN echoed Chinese talking points on COVID and promotes Chinese interests.

China has exploited deficient UN institutional oversight to co-opt multilateral programs and steer global technological standards to favor Beijing’s geopolitical interests to Washington’s detriment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization faced criticism for echoing Chinese Communist Party narratives, downplaying concerns surroundingthe origins of the virus and excluding Taiwan from key discussions despite its successful pandemic response. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agency, has allegedly allowed Chinese tech giants like Huawei to steer global 5G and artificial intelligence standards. 

4. A $500 million-a-year peacekeeping operation asked permission from Hezbollah terrorists to conduct patrols.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which will begin shutting down by year’s end, has undermined U.S. security concerns by providing cover for an Iranian proxy. Despite an annual budget exceeding $500 million and having received more than $10 billion since 2006, UNIFIL has allowed Hezbollah to establish extensive military infrastructure directly within its zone of operations adjacent to Israel’s northern border. The mission effectively provided a diplomatic shield for a terrorist group. While the UN Security Council attempted to strengthen UNIFIL’s “independence” during the August 2023 renewal (Resolution 2695), the mission has remained institutionally paralyzed, often requiring Hezbollah’s permission to conduct patrols. 

5. The UN runs dozens of redundant agencies, refusing to consolidate.

The Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the World Food Programme — whose combined budgets total more than $20 billion annually — “have made limited progress in reducing overlap, competition and duplication of work,” according to a 2021 UN report. U.S. Representative for UN Management and Reform Jeff Bartos said that the United Nations does not need numerous agencies “working on overlapping dimensions of development.” Bartos made these remarks in response to a September 2025 report from the UN80 Initiative, a system-wide reform effort aimed at increasing UN efficiency. While Washington supports the effort in principle, the White House has expressed concern about its implementation. Despite its promises of reform, the United Nations has been reluctant to merge redundant agencies, which have expensive, overlapping bureaucracies costing the United States millions of dollars.

6. UN peacekeepers are allegedly responsible for sexual exploitation and suffering.

UN peacekeeping missions have been plagued by allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse against the populations they are mandated to protect. A UN report recorded 84 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeeping missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic in 2024. According to a survey cited in a 2025 UN secretary-general report, 3.65 percent of UN staff believe it is acceptable to pay for sex and nearly 1 percent approve of engaging in sexual activity with a child. Peacekeepers were also linked to Haiti’s 2010 cholera outbreak, caused by inadequate sanitation infrastructure, which left 10,000 dead and nearly 800,000 sickened. The United Nations denied responsibility until 2016, claiming diplomatic immunity to avoid compensating victims.

7. In Somalia, a UN office lost millions of dollars by mishandling property.

A 2025 internal UN audit found widespread waste within the UN Support Office in Somalia’s (UNSOS’s) accounting practices. Between January 2022 and April 2025, UNSOS potentially lost millions of dollars by not reporting property incidents in a timely manner and by destroying or scrapping property rather than selling it to recover costs for the United Nations. Not surprisingly, the audit found that the Local Property Survey Board, which is responsible for oversight of property write-offs, was improperly trained. 

8. Poor UN oversight may have cost hundreds of millions of dollars in Afghanistan.

The United Nations oversaw the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), which paid the salaries of the Afghan National Police. A 2014 letter from the United States’s Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) warned of the possibility of ghost workers receiving salaries from the Afghan National Police. Later that year, the inspector general noted that lax UN oversight could have contributed to the diversion of up to $200 million by the Afghan police. Between 2006 and 2015, LOTFA received $3.6 billion from the international community, including $1.3 billion from the United States. A 2017 LOTFA-commissioned report found major deficiencies in its complaint referral process, including only nine prosecutions out of more than 2,000 complaints.

9. The UN did tens of millions of dollars of business with companies controlled by Syria’s Assad regime.

The United Nations spent more than $95.5 million at the Four Seasons Damascus between 2014 and 2023 despite the hotel being owned by Samer Foz, a confidant of former Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad. Washington opposed the Assad regime, including by sanctioning Foz in 2019 for providing financial support to the dictator’s war machine. Furthermore, throughout Assad’s rule, the United Nations continued to hire security firms like ProGuard and Shorouk, which were led by former regime generals and individuals linked to Maher al-Assad, the commander of the notorious 4th Armored Division and Bashar’s brother.

10. The UN’s pro-Palestinian bias undermines its neutrality and leads to waste. 

The United Nations’s hyperfocus on the Palestinian issue undermines a key U.S. ally, Israel, and wastes American dollars. The UN special rapporteur dedicated to scrutinizing Israel — Francesca Albanese — has drawn condemnations from Germany, France, the United States, and others for antisemitic remarks, including repeated comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany. The United Nations dedicates disproportionate staff and resources — more than $1 billion a year — to its agency dedicated to descendants of Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) compared to resources allocated to the UN body for the rest of the world’s refugees. Destabilizing the Middle East, UNRWA prolongs the Palestinian refugee crisis by maintaining a unique definition of refugees, rejecting resettlement, and nurturing Palestinian grievances against Israel. The United Nations also operates a network of bodies dedicated to promoting the Palestinian agenda, spending more than $6 million a year to undermine Israel.

David May is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Teddy Schneiderman completed an internship. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD. Follow David on X @DavidSamuelMay. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.